Johannesburg is Africa’s most active city on Twitter; Tuesdays and Fridays are the top tweeting days on the continent; and English is the most common language used on the microblogging platform.

These are among the findings from recent research by communications company Portland, titled How Africa Tweets. Portland analysed geo-located tweets originating from Africa during the final three months of 2013.

Below are some of the main insights from How Africa Tweets:

• South Africa’s commercial hub Johannesburg is the most active African city on Twitter, with 344,215 tweets in the fourth quarter of 2013. Cairo is the top city in North Africa (third overall); Kenya’s capital Nairobi is the most active city in East Africa (sixth overall), while Accra accounted for the most tweets in the West Africa region (eighth overall).
• English is by far the most used language on Twitter in Africa, followed by Arabic and French.
• Tuesdays and Fridays are when Africans are the most active on Twitter. Portland also found that Twitter activity increases steadily through the afternoon and evening, with peak volumes around 10pm.
• Football is the most popular Twitter subject on the continent. During the last months of 2013, football was an even more popular topic than the death of South African former president Nelson Mandela. The most mentioned football team was Johannesburg’s Orlando Pirates (#BlackisBack, #PrayForOrlandPirates, #OperationFillOrlandoStadium).
• Brands are also becoming more active on Twitter, with some major hashtag activity from Adidas, Samsung and Magnum ice cream.

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